I have had a chance to try two different pcmcia serial port cards in my
laptop over the last couple of weeks. Here are my observations:
1. Got a Silicom dual-port card from Essex Portable Computer Solutions.
Nice people to deal with. $189. Comes with both DOS and Win95 drivers
and you can assign any normal COM port addresses and select individual
IRQs. The card has two separate DE9 connectors that plug into latching
connectors on the PCMCIA card. Looks like a nice card. Couldn't get it
installed, no way, no how. Had a number of email contacts with the
customer service folks in Isreal and finally a phone call from one of
their reps in NJ and we decided on the phone that the card was faulty.
So sent it back to Essex to get another. Unfortunately, Essex didn't
have any more in stock and so, as I was in a hurry, I had them send me
the Quatech dual port card ($225).
2 Quatech. This card installed, at least for the DOS setup (I haven't
got it going in Win95 yet) like a breeze. I set up a floppy with the
appropriate config.sys and the system worked fine for the second serial
port in SS. But...
a. Can set it up only for COM1/COM3 or COM2/COM4 (or in block mode
to some other addresses.
b. You can only have ONE IRQ address. It picked mine as IRQ15,
which worked ok, but it sure appears that you can only use one of these
ports in CT. If I'm missing something, somebody please help me out.
c. I am not really impressed with the card mechanically. The two
DE9s go to a single, non-latched edge connector on the PCMCIA card. Its
pretty loose so if you move the laptop around it could come out of the
socket.
Bottom line: I'm sorry I have the Quatech. I would prefer the Silicom
and felt badly about abandoning them when I was in a sweat to get a card
working. Silicom tech reps were very helpful.
Fred KE7X
fcady@ee.montana.edu
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